octa-
Origin of octa-
WORDS THAT USE OCTA-
What does octa- mean?
Octa- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “eight.” It is often used in a great many scientific and technical terms.
Octa- comes from Greek oktṓ, meaning “eight.” The Latin equivalent, which is almost identical in spelling and pronunciation, is octō.
What are variants of octa-?
When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, octa- becomes oct-, as in octane. Another variant of octa- is octo-, as in octofoil.
Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entries for both oct– and octo-.
Examples of octa-
An example of a word you may have encountered that features octa- is octagon, “a polygon having eight angles and eight sides.” Octagon comes from Greek oktágōnos, which features the equivalent of the form octa-.
We know octa- means “eight,” but what about the -gon portion of the word? The form -gon, from Greek gōnía, means “angled, angular.” Octagon literally translates to “eight-angled.”
What are some words that use the combining form octa-?
- octachord (using the equivalent form of octa- in Greek)
- octahedron (using the equivalent form of octa- in Greek)
- octameter (using the equivalent form of octa- in Greek)
- octastyle
- octavalent
What are some other forms that octa- may be commonly confused with?
Break it down!
The combining form -hedron means “face” and is used in the names of geometric figures with a certain number of faces. With this in mind, what is an octahedron?
How to use octa- in a sentence
After this Eosa and the rest that fled, being encouraged by Octa's success, came also, and were admitted to the same favour.
Old English Chronicles|VariousThe incautious sovereign having assented to this, Octa and Ebusa arrived with forty ships.
Old English Chronicles|Various